Natural products encompass chemicals and chemical compositions derived from plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms (see, e.g., Newman and Cragg (2012) J. Natural Products. 75:311-335). Natural products include taxanes, such as paclitaxel, which is renowned for use in treating cancer (Heinig and Jennewein (2009) African J. Biotech. 8:1370-1385). Natural products also include terpenes, which include aromatic compounds, such as limonene, menthol, eugenol, and beta-caryophyllene, which are used in foods and perfumes. Analogues of natural products have also found commercial use, and these include Warfarin, an analogue of the natural product, coumarin (Link (1959) Circulation. 19:97-1 07), and fingolimod, derived from a natural product made by the fungus Isaria sinclairii, and which is used to treat multiple sclerosis (Chiba and Adachi (2012) Future Med. Chem. 4:771-781).
Administered cannabinoids, as provided by non-purified sources or by partially purified sources, have found use in reducing the symptoms of various diseases. For example, administered cannabinoids have been found to reduce the spasticity, neuropathic pain, and tremors of multiple sclerosis (Leussink et al (2012) Ther. Adv. Neurol. Disord. 5:255-266; Lakhan and Rowland (2009) BMC Neurology. 9:59 (6 pages)). Moreover, cannabinoids can relieve chronic neuropathic pain (Ware et al (2010) Canadian Med. Assoc. J. 182:E694-E701; Grant et al (2012) Open Neurology J. 6:18-25; Lynch and Campbell (2011) Brit. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 72:735-744). The present disclosure fulfills an unmet need by providing concentrated preparations of purified cannabinoids that do not contain solvent, and that were not prepared using any solvent.
Some methods of preparing chemical compounds from plant material are known in the art (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,700,368, to Flockhart et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 8,846,409, issued Sep. 30, 2014, to Flockhart et al.; and European Patent Serial No. 1 536 810 B1 to Whittle et al.; the contents of all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety). Methods of decarboxylating cannabinoids are also known (see U.S. Patent Publication Serial No. 2012/0046352 to Hospodor, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety).